U.S. Senator John McCain (R-Ariz.) has often said it is his wife who would make a great presidential candidate. But Cindy McCain, 18 years her husband’s junior, insists she is content to play a supporting role as an understated but effective spouse.
“He’s amazing,” Cindy McCain told TODAY co-host Meredith Vieira just after a Super Tuesday-starting rally for her husband in New York. “On days when I think I can’t take another step, he’s just charging away. So he’s a great inspiration.”
As a potential first lady, McCain said she would love to motivate the same way Sen. McCain has done for her.
“I hope I can just be one who can inspire men and women to get involved,” she added. “I do a lot of work overseas. I’d like other people to do the same thing. I’d like people to join me and get involved and make this world better.”
A reluctant spotlight
Cindy McCain, 53, has tried to shun the spotlight throughout her spouse’s political career.
The Phoenix native met McCain at a military reception in Hawaii in 1979, when he was reportedly in a troubled marriage.
By April 1980, John McCain was divorced and he and Cindy married a month later. They had three children in the 1980s.
There were personal struggles for Cindy McCain through the years. In the late 1980s, she required two spinal surgeries for ruptured discs and subsequently became addicted to painkillers throughout the early 1990s. She also suffered a near-fatal stroke almost four years ago, which was attributed to high blood pressure.
But there have also been professional victories. She is chair of Hensley & Company, one of the largest Anheuser-Busch distributors in the country. The Hensley Family Foundation, started by McCain, donates money to children’s programs in Arizona and around the country.
She also founded the American Voluntary Medical Team, a nonprofit organization that arranges trips for medical personnel to provide emergency medical care to disaster or war-torn areas around the world.
Despite her resume, McCain is often regarded as the least outspoken and most leery of the media of all the presidential-hopeful spouses. It is believed the ugliness of McCain’s 2000 presidential run, where there were suggestions that he had fathered an illegitimate child and regular referrals to her previous addictions, soured her on campaigning.
“Well, the land of politics, campaigns have changed, because of Internet,” she told Vieira. “I like the idea of having more information out there. But I think it also makes the family have to be under a little more scrutiny, a little bit more pressure. [They are] much more visible than in years before.”
About the wars
One subject McCain is more forthcoming about is the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. With two of her children in active duty and the senator’s platform that he will not immediately pull out of the conflicts if elected president, Mrs. McCain may appear in a dichotomous position.
Not so, she says. In fact, McCain has publicly stated that soldiers have not had proper equipment for the war during the Bush administration.
“It would concern me if he weren’t the leader, absolutely, because I think we need someone that understands what it means to send young men and women into combat,” she said.
“We believe in service and I’m proud of my sons, and any mother that’s out there is proud of their sons and daughters. But also, as mothers, we want someone who is strong and understands and will take care of them. So it’s an interesting situation I’m in, because I’m a mother but I’m also the wife of a guy running. And I’m very proud of what he’s doing.”
Speaking out
So what does McCain have the most trouble biting her lip about?
Apparently, it’s the perception that her husband has a temper — fueled, in part, by former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.
“Oh, he’s passionate,” she told Vieira. “There’s no temper. In fact, that aggravates me when I hear that.
“He is very passionate. He is very up-front about the issues and if he disagrees, he will tell you. And he certainly gets upset with guys like Abramoff and others. There’s no temper. He’s just a guy who is passionate about every issue he’s involved with. And I love him for that.”